


разрушенной (Shattered)

by Rachraff



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: #JopperBigBang2019, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:46:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22028041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachraff/pseuds/Rachraff
Summary: 1986.  Chernobyl. Challenger. Hopper's return.  Were these tragedies of history somehow linked to the latter or were they just sad coincidences which would bring a small group back to a small town to fight an unimaginable evil?
Relationships: Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper
Comments: 5
Kudos: 13
Collections: Jopper Big Bang 2019





	разрушенной (Shattered)

**Author's Note:**

> This story contains depictions of graphic violence, some profane language and enough Jopper love to make your teeth hurt.  
> Reader discretion is advised.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Check out @kingstoken and her artwork as well!

*Crunch*

His head pounded and he squeezed his eyes shut.Afraid to open his eyes he swore he heard a low, guttural growl.As the sounds began to fade he opened his eyes.Blinked once, twice and slowly took in his new surroundings.

The air in the Upside Down was so stale and thick it threatened to choke him where he stood.He reached a quivering hand up to his head.Something warm and sticky met his fingers.He tore a sleeve of his uniform jacket off and made a makeshift bandana.Then he ripped off the other sleeve and made a small face mask. 

“Hulk Hogan eat your heart out,” he grumbled and scoffed to himself.He glanced at the still cooling cut in the thin LIVING layer of tissue between heaven and hell, life and death, Hawkins and the Upside Down.He attempted to stand but the searing pain shooting through his ankle negated the need for that.He fought hard to stay awake but in the end the pain won out.Hopper passed out.

Sometime later…

“Daddy?”

His vision was blurry but he could see her, Sarah, his little girl.

“Daddy?”

He bit his tongue to fight the tears and reached a hand out to her but the little girl was gone.In her place stood a huge mass.Its slimy tentacles reached out to him and he swatted them away.

“Daddy,” it repeated.

Hopper’s hand slowly wrapped around a broken pipe from the explosion and before it could take another step forward he swung.His heart sank as he sliced through air.He dug his heels into the floor and heaved himself up the wall.The white hot pain in his ankle fused with his rage and swung blindly connecting with tissue.

The thing backed away from him, seemingly cradling its injured appendage. Hopper stared stupidly at the pipe in his hand and then with a small, wicked smile, he lunged.

The broken pipe embedded itself deep in the open mouth of the creature.Its gargled cries were only outdone by Hopper’s guttural moans, “You son of a bitch!You do NOT get to mock her.”

He pulled the pipe out, plunging it down, again and again until the mass stopped writhing before him.The pipe hit the ground with a clank as he absentmindedly wiped his brow and stared at his hand covered in the things’s gore. At some point tears had flowed mixing with blood and sweat, stinging his eyes and staining the remainder of the uniform.

Hopper, covered in the monster’s carnage, dropped the pipe and let out a primal scream.He didn’t care who or what heard him.This was his life now and until he found a way back out this was his only truth. Using his hands and the Swiss army knife he always carried with him he slowly peeled the hide of the beast. If he were to stay alive in this place he would need all the help he could get.

###

Her days were riddled with anxiety and pain, her nights with sleeping pills, cigarettes and alcohol. A shrink she had promised to see, at her son’s urging, encouraged her to write her feelings in a journal of sorts.This had become her almost daily obsession.

**July 30th, 1985.**

_**You’ve been gone for almost a month now but I still think about you and your sacrifice.Eleven gets stronger every day but the frustration of her power loss is evident on her face.She misses you.We all miss you.I miss you.** _

The phone rang.

Joyce started, the ashes flicking from her cigarette and landing on the carpet, immediately beginning to smolder.

“Shit.” She exclaimed stomping it out with her slipper.She crushed the rest of the cigarette out in the ashtray.The phone trilled again.

“Will, can you-“ she stopped short.No one was in the house tonight.She was alone, no one but Tom Selleck to keep her company. She turned to answer the still ringing phone and promptly stubbed her toe on the side of the ottoman. She mumbled something under her breath and made her way to the kitchen.More angrily than she had intended she picked the receiver up off of the cradle and gruffly shouted Hello.

There was no answer.

“Hello?”

Again nothing but some crackling.

“Hello?Answer me or I’m hanging up this phone right now, asshole.”

“Joyce?”Faint, as if from far away.She had to strain to hear him over the crackling which seemed almost too loud.“Joyce, can you hear me?”

His gruff voice sounded pained as if it took everything he had to get the words out.

She stared at the peeling wallpaper in front of her, disbelieving.

“Joyce, please. It’s me.I - I need help.”

“Hopper?” She finally croaked, her hands shaking.“Hopper, is that you?”

“It’s me, Joyce. I need help.Is Eleven there?”

The crackling grew louder in her ears and his voice echoed into the receiver.

“She’s out with Will.Where are you?I’ll come for you.”

“I need help, Joyce.I need ————you.”

The line went dead.Joyce thought back to Will’s phone call.How he had been so muffled and only made a single noise but she knew it was him.She slammed her finger down on the release and shouted repeatedly into the phone, “Hello?Hop?I know you’re there!” She yelled still catching and releasing the cradle of the phone.  
She was only met with a dial tone.

“I’ll find you, Hop.”She murmured to the empty house and for the first time in a long time she hoped.

###

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the child’s toy, a walkie talkie smashed beyond repair. He limped over to it and picked it up in his large paw.

“I must be going insane,” he whispered to the empty air.He put it up to his ear and swore he heard the slightest crackling. 

“What the hell,” he resigned and held the button down.“Can anyone hear me? Hello?” His voice echoed in the empty expanse. 

He tried again and faintly he heard a female voice calling his name.His pulse quickened and his voice cracked and then he screamed for her into the phone.So much static but somewhere, her voice rang out and that was all he needed.

“It’s me Joyce.I need help.”He slammed his eyes shut again, his heart ached as he gulped down pride.“Is Eleven there?”Without realizing it he rubbed his wrist where the blue hair tie had been.

He heard Joyce’s answer and her excited voice asking questions at a feverish pace and then he blurted it out.He couldn’t help it, he was just so overcome.

“I need—-you.”

There was silence on the line.

 _Was she crying?Could she possibly miss him?_ He shook the thought from his head as the line went dead.He stared down at the walkie again, the antenna was broken and the battery compartment hung listlessly from the back.There were no batteries inside and yet he knew he had talked to her.This was not the end of his story.Chief James Hopper had not come this far to die now.Hearing her voice again had given him a renewed hope that maybe he could and would be saved.

###

In the Upside Down time stopped even as the outside world moved on.So for Hopper, a few minutes were days.A few days, the months since he had disappeared. He found himself back in the remains of the Hawkins lab, having wandered around town for nearly 6 days (months).

As he stood in front of the scarred over gash, the remains of the original portal to Hawkins, he coughed and spat on the floor.Slightly pinkish phlegm splashed on the concrete.The hide was rotting and even though it had been his savior in this hell, shielding him from any unwanted guests, standing before his salvation, he sloughed it off.

He stared at the scar on the wall again and growled, “Fuck you.”

A small hole remained between the two realms just big enough for Hopper to fit a finger through.He couldn’t see what was on the other side and doubted that if he did it would be reality. He slowly began to cut with his now dull penknife, spittle flying from his mouth as he worked.

“Daddy?”

Hopper, broken and bruised, turned toward the voice.His eyes welled with tears as he stared across the room at the small form.Anger poured over him again, slamming his eyes shut as he remembered what the Demegorgan had tried to do but she reached out in that moment and he could feel her. It was the first human contact he had since being here and for a second he allowed himself to feel her warmth, then he instinctively shrank back. A fog fell over his face again and he turned back toward the wall, tearing and cutting his way out.He refused to let himself believe it was her and continued scratching at the wound in the wall.Eleven moved toward him and stopped, a look of terror crossing her face.

“Papa,” she muttered and then she turned back towards the Hawkins police chief.A ray of light shot past him and through the portal tearing a searing hole into it.He stared at her, dropping to his knees and unable to trust his own eyes.

“Jane.”

Her form was hazy now but just before she disappeared he heard her say, “Found you.”

Unable to trust his own thoughts he curled into a ball, laying defeated at the Hellmouth. He felt trapped inside his body and even as a hand reached into the opening SHE had created he still reeled from what he had seen.

###

James Hopper was yanked through the hole and into the world, born again and just as vulnerable.He tried to call out for his daughter but he was helpless as if his body was no longer his own. He gazed up into the eyes of a shocked Dr Brenner.

Dr. Brenner gathered himself as a Russian guard screamed into his walkie talkie. 

“What a fortuitous accident,” he sneered and smiled at the bewildered police officer before him.

Moments later Hopper was hurtled into a dark cell and the door slammed shut behind him.He had gone into the Upside Down in Hawkins but somehow came out half way across the world in Kochatka, Russia on January 27th, 1986, the day before the Challenger exploded and the world’s eyes turned toward the stars. 

###

Joyce did her best to shield the kids from the truth and tried to pass her days in a slightly less drunken stupor.One morning, after another sleepless night, with infomercials as her guide, Eleven came bursting through the door, eyes red and puffy as if she had been crying.

“I found Dad.”She blurted, tears welling in her eyes.Joyce stared at the teenager unable to comprehend anything she was saying, except the nagging thought that they should be in school.Then a fog drifted over her face, a darkness that made the children step back.

“Don’t do that.”

El was confused. “Do what?”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I-I’m not.I found him-“

Joyce grabbed her shoulders and El winced.Will took a step toward her but she motioned for him to back off. Joyce’s eyes welled with tears and she dropped to her knees.Her body started to shake.El knelt in front of her and hugged her close.Joyce’s body shook with her sobs against the child’s chest.Slowly Jonathan and Will bent over them and held them close.

“I knew it.I knew that he-“

Without warning, Joyce stopped and stared at the three teens, “shouldn’t you be at school?” She intoned, trying for a brief moment to be the mother she never had.Will glanced at his fingers, mumbling something about a volunteer project he had signed up for months ago.

Joyce seemed to accept this excuse, and in that moment realized the children were the only ones who would believe her if she told them about the phone call.Still she didn’t dare.It was too much all at once. Instead Joyce held Eleven’s forehead against her own and spoke,

“Where is he, Eleven?Where’s Hopper?”

“Russia,” she stated pulling the well-worn letter from her jacket pocket.“Papa.”

“What?”Joyce looked puzzled and ran a hand through her hair.

“In the seconds before the blast what did you see?” Jonathan interjected. 

Joyce glanced at her son and tried to think, “I-I didn’t actually see anything.I didn’t want to.I shut my eyes as I turned those keys.”

“Papa-found him,” El repeated.

It was Will’s turn to speak up, “The chief has been stuck in the Upside Down for months.Now out here time is linear but in there…well…”He reached for a piece of paper and showed the small group the same trick Mr. Clarke had shown him in school.“So here it was months but for him it was only a small amount of time, maybe a week?Somehow he cut a hole in the barrier between worlds and was able to escape.”

El raised her hand sheepishly, “Me.”

All three of the Byers clan stare at Eleven.

“I helped him tear the scar in Hawkins lab but….somehow he didn’t come out where he went in.Papa’s there and they are-“Joyce stopped her mid-sentence.“Papa? You mean Dr. Brenner is alive?”

El nodded slowly, eyes darting between the three.

Joyce raced towards the bedroom and shut the door, leaving the children baffled behind her.

She sat on the edge of her bed, staring at her hands, remembering the night their lives had changed.The night he was taken from her, the night she could never forget.She pulled a cigarette from the pack and lit it.As she brought it to her lips she thought back to the memory of all those years ago and she grinned.

**May 1st, 1960 -- Senior Year**

“Hey.”

“Hey yourself,” she shuffled her feet and made a line in the dirt with one of her sneakers.

He held out the pack of cigarettes to her and she swiftly removed one before he had time to do so.He searched in his jeans pocket and pulled out a pack of matches. The closeness of her made him shudder.He hoped she didn’t notice.He snapped the match across the pack and then lit the end of her cigarette.

She took a puff and immediately choked.He patted her back.

“You ok?Easy there ,Tiger,” he mocked.

They both giggled.Suddenly they heard footsteps and turned in time to see Mr. Cooper walking toward them.

“Shit.”They crushed out the cigarettes and took off running as the teacher yelled after them, “HEY ASSHOLE!”

Neither of them stopped running for what felt like an eternity.Joyce’s lungs burned but she didn’t dare slow down.As they entered the woods which ran alongside Hawkins High School, Joyce slowed her pace and bent over, her chest aching.

“That was close,” she puffed between gasps.

Hopper didn’t speak.

“Hop?”

“You ever think about the future?”

“What was in those cigarettes, Hop? Seriously, what kind of a question is that?”

“You ever think about-“ he stopped short, swallowing hard.He was staring up at the trees and Joyce felt the overpowering need to touch him.

She entwined her arm through his, staring at the trees, fighting the urge to lay her head on his oversized bicep. He had a girlfriend but that didn’t stop her from wishing.She would never ask how he felt about her. Somehow she knew that he would never REALLY tell her anyway, siding for the machismo and suave attitude so many other girls found endearing.For her it was mostly infuriating, so she settled on being here with him, now. He stared intently at her.

Realizing she was lost in her thoughts, he offered a slight smirk.“Never mind.”

He pulled the pack of cigarettes from his pocket again and offered her one.They stood there, in the mid-day breeze of another school day, smoking and pondering what if.

###

She held the cigarette a minute longer, snuffing it out in the ashtray next to her bed.She placed it back in the pack and promised herself the next one she would smoke would be with Jim.

A gentle knock on her door pulled her from her thoughts.Will entered the room alone.

“Mom?”

“Hi, sweetie.”

“Do you think Chief Hopper is ok?”

She forced a smile and gently pushed the hair back from his ears.Will smirked back.“I mean, ok as in-” he pointed to his head.

“Of course I do. You were, right?”She offered him a small smile and bit her lip.He glanced at the floor.They both knew there was something different about him now, something off which would never go away.”He’s a tough guy.I have to believe he will be alright."

Will scoffed, “The man's an ogre."

"A what?"

He smiled broadly as he looked at his mom.Finally a subject he could relate with her on.He began to trudge around the room, imitating a large blundering beast.

“An ogre with a heart of gold…” he explained, happily hopping back onto the bed beside her.

Joyce chuckled, "A lovable ogre for sure.”

Realizing she slipped, she hurriedly stood and busied herself with something on her bureau.

"It's ok mom.It's ok to -ya know."

Joyce turned to look at her son, wise beyond his years, and mussed his hair a bit.

"You are too young for these things William Byers.”Feigning ignorance she added, “I don't know what you are talking about."

As he walked to the door he paused a moment to watch her idly running her finger over the chief’s uniform jacket she couldn’t bring herself to throw away.He realized this was the first time, in a long time, he had seen her smile.

As he entered the living room he saw Jonathan and Eleven staring at the television.A moment later Joyce joined them.A fireball engulfed the bright blue sky as the anchor announced somberly there had been an explosion and heaven gained seven angels.Joyce glanced at her calendar, sat on the couch and wept. 

**The date: January 28th, 1986.**

She turned to the children staring fixedly at the television.

“Pack some bags.We’re headed to Hawkins.”

###

That night she pulled into a motel parking lot and stared at her purse.Jonathan gently placed his hand on her’s and nods.

“I’ve got this mom.”He had been doing well working for the Chicago Tribune but Joyce’s eyes still teared up at the thought of her son taking care of her.He smirked and exited the car to pay for a night.

In another hour, Will and Jonathan had passed out in one bed and Eleven had curled up in the other.Joyce stared out the window at the parking lot and smiled.

Sometime in the night she passed out in the chair and dreamt.Later she would recount the dream as a product of a toxic cocktail of sleeping pills and alcohol but then she would remind herself she hadn’t had any in days.

###

In her dream she was back in the basement of the mall, her fingers gripped tight around the key.She was reaching for the other key and silently saying good-bye to her best friend.

He turned toward her and smiled, nodding his head in resignation for he knew what must be done.She felt her heart drop in her chest as she slammed her eyes closed and waited for the explosion.It didn’t come.

Slowly, she opened one eye and then the other, thick ash-like spores lessened her vision.She waved a hand in front of her face and realized where she was.The Upside Down.

She coughed and spat a small slug the size of a caterpillar.Immediately she stepped on it, squishing it beneath her foot.

“This isn’t your fault.”

His voice echoed in the chamber and she could feel fresh tears welling in her eyes.She tried to speak but finds her voice stopped again by something thick and slimy.

She exited the small enclosure and entered the main lab, where the giant laser had been.She made her way toward the huge gash in the wall, seemingly undulating as it tried desperately to heal itself.

“Do you understand Joyce?”

His voice seemed further away now as she spun around.She shook her head, still unable to speak.

“You will and when you do….”

Her eyes darted back and forth between the dark corners of this Upside Down version of the bunker and she could just vaguely make out a shadow of a man. She walked toward the outline but found that every time she stepped forward the shadow would take a step back. She felt a tap on her shoulder and spun to see Jim Hopper, seemingly floating in front of her.His beard had grown gangly and covered his neck, his hair was longer and touched his shoulders, his eyes were closed but he seemed to smile at her.

“You’ll find me,” he finished opening his eyes to the black orbits of their sockets.Joyce let out a blood curdling scream as Jim’s face began to melt, coagulated blood oozing over his features as he grinned.She could feel the heat from the explosion and sat bolt upright on her couch.

Her eyes darted around the room and then, as her pulse slowed, she picked up a pen and shaking, began to write on the motel stationary.

_**Tonight I had the strangest dream.I know it can’t be real.A by-product of the terrible loss of life we endured today.Jesus, I want it to be real.I need to see you again, to hold your big dopey face in my hands and finally admit what I’ve hidden for so many years.I know you are out there.Eleven says you are out there.I just don’t know how to reach you.The Challenger brought me home. I feel like it’s a sign from you, much the same as the dream…No.It couldn’t be and yet I feel as if it is.Hopefully one day, soon, I’ll understand.** _

She paused for a moment, staring at the stationary, rereading her words and then she pulled a slip of paper from her purse and made a call to Murray.

**March 5, 1986**

Hopper squinted at the light in his cell as large hands wrapped him up in a bear hug and dragged him to a sitting position.He was half starved, long haired and unshaven and as he attempted to glance upwards the shape shoved a blindfold over his eyes and slammed him into an old wheelchair.He struggled, as much as he could now and the grip tightened around his arms.

As the guard pushed him down the hall he could hear the screams of another prisoner being fed to the “thing” and he thought not for the first time, _well at least SOMEONE is eating._ The rough hands flung Hopper into a dentist’s chair and he could hear the wheelchair squeaking to a stop in the corner of the room. Gentler hands removed the blindfold and then a familiar voice greeted him.

“Tsk Tsk. What have they done to you?”

“Nothing compared to what I’m going to do to you,” Hopper growled.

Dr. Brenner giggled to himself and then busied himself with the instruments on the table. He picks up a small sharp instrument which reflects off of the only light in the room. 

“Do your worst.I won’t help you.”

Dr. Brenner takes the invitation and makes a small incision on either side of Hopper’s chest.He inhales through his teeth and gnashes them together but doesn’t say a word. Even as Brenner held the cloth with the bleach to his fresh cuts he barely made a sound.Beads of sweat began to slide down his forehead and sting his eyes but Hopper continued to stare intently at his captors.

“We both want the same things you know, we just want our daughter to be safe and happy.”

Hopper spat in Dr. Brenner’s face.The viscous fluid slowly, comically made its way down his face.

"Go to hell you son of a bitch."

"Very well,” Dr. Brenner added with a sigh. He began to busy himself with the leads he had laying across the metallic tray and peeling the backing off of each one before placing it on Hopper’s chest.Hopper saw something shift in the periphery of his vision but didn’t want to avert his eyes for fear that the two men would see her.

He heard her then, softly in his head. **_Daddy?_** She almost cooed.He smirked and tried to return a message.

**_It’s a trap, Jane.A trap to bring you “home.”_ **

El raised her hands above her head and he inhaled sharply.

 ** _I love you,_** he mentally whispered and then he felt the cold of the gel and his mind shot back to his current situation.

  
_Had she heard him at all?_ As if in reply he could see her, draped in shadow, blood dripping from her nose mingling with the tears rolling down her face.

 ** _I love you, more,_** she whispered back. **_We will come for you._**

Before he could protest she disappeared, replaced by the bleak blank wall.

“Earth to Hawkins Chief Hopper,” Dr. Brenner cleared his throat and as Jim’s eyes settled back he continued,“Have you met my friend Ivan?”

Hopper didn’t answer.

“No? Ivan will you introduce yourself to our friend here?”

Without a word the bigger man reeled back and crushed his fist into Jim’s nose. Hot white light seared his eyesight for a brief second even as he felt the hot sticky liquid careen from his now broken nose.His head throbbed and his face ached, but Hopper, undeterred, turned his head to the side and spat.The phlegm reminded him of his time in the Upside and Down and god knows what he brought back with him. Dr. Brenner’s hand was on the dial and he took one last concerned look at Jim before he cranked the electricity, sending lightening bolts of pain through his entire body. He shook violently, the unmistakable scent of burning flesh filled the small room.A thin line of drool mingled with the blood, dripped from the slackened man’s mouth.

Ivan stepped forward cracking his knuckles even as Hopper lifted his head in mute defiance. Ivan punched him again, this time leaving a welt near his eye.Hopper knew it would be a long time before he could see with that eye again.

"We can end this now, you know,"Dr. Brenner removed one of the electrodes from Hopper’s chest, only to reattach it elsewhere.Hopper, most of his strength zapped by the meager rations they had served in the months he had spent in the cell.He slowly raised his head again and closed his eyes, smirking.

Hopper mumbled something incoherently forcing Dr. Brenner to lean in close again.

"You're a fucking traitor," Hopper growled, the words spraying blood across Dr. Brenner’s face, making him twitch and recoil comically.

Dr. Brenner wiped his face and placed a handkerchief back into his lab coat pocket. He sneered at Hopper before nodding toward Ivan whose fingers were back on the dial in a flash.

"Takes one to know one,” he added patting Hopper a few times on the shoulder.

"Don't," Hopper mumbled just before another course of electricity sizzled through his body. Heclosed his eyes and let the blackness engulf him.

**August 27th, 1966**

He gulped down the last of his beer and stood to leave.The whole thing was a sham but he could never bring himself to tell her.As he stepped out into the cool night air he looked up at the clear sky and sighed.Then he reached for the pack of cigarettes in his jacket pocket and lit one, holding the smoke in his lungs.Over the dying ember of his cigarette he caught a glimpse of someone in the dark.

"Got a light?" Joyce asked, smiling expectantly.He quickly removed another one and lit it for her, staring at the visage in the white wedding dress.

"So suffocating in there, right?". She took a long drag on her cigarette.He shook himself out of his thoughts and slowly nodded. 

“You’re gorgeous ya know,” he fumbled with the words. A bashful smile crossed his face as her expression changed from surprise to playful.

“What,” he asked playfully.

"Oh Hop, I bet you say that to all the girls," she mocked, clasping her hands over her chest and batting her eyelashes.

“If only….” He swallowed the rest of the sentence, offering instead a simple “Ronnie is a lucky man."

The moment hung between them and then the door slowly creaked open and Ronnie sauntered up to his bride, clearly intoxicated and trying to cover it up.

"There you are." He grabbed Joyce and kissed her hard, opening one eye to make sure Hopper was watching. Jim tossed the butt on the ground and softly crushed it beneath his foot. 

"Yep, real lucky," he said sarcastically.

Joyce broke the kiss and placed both hands on Ronnie’s cheeks.He staggered a bit and Hopper could smell the alcohol coming off of him in waves.

“I’ll be right in, baby” She kissed him gently on the nose. Ronnie patted her stomach, offered a childish grin to Hopper and sauntered back into the firehall.

Hopper wanted to stop her.He wanted to ask her to run away with him and never look back but he knew she had other responsibilities now and she would stay in Hawkins because that’s where she THOUGHT she should be.They both knew the only thing tying her to this godforsaken town was the baby boy growing in her stomach.

"I should get going," Jim said running a hand through his hair. He swallows, hard fighting down the urge to grab her and kiss her.They looked at each other, a tad longer than they needed to and finally Joyce broke the awkward silence.

"Thank you for coming. I-we really appreciate it.”

Hopper scrunched his nose and smiled, something that always made her a little wobbly in the knees.

"You are ALWAYS welcome, Joyce but we both know I didn't show up for HIM.”

She playfully hit him and told him to stop.

"Goodnight Joyce," he placed a hand on her stomach."Watch over your mom, little one. Someone has to,” he added offering a sideways glance to the closed door of the fire hall.

He pulled her toward him and softly kissed her forehead.

“Best of luck,” he offered, unlocking his truck and lowering himself inside.

“I’ll see you soon.” Joyce called after him.

His eyes flitted over the Army paperwork in the passenger seat but he never answered her.

They wouldn't see each other again for 13 years.

***

**Meanwhile…**

"What El?" Mike asked confused and a little more than visibly shaken.

She stared at him as if seeing him for the first time and shuddered. Victor, an exchange student from Russia and one of El’s new friend’s wrapped her in a towel.She gave him a gentle smile.The same kind she used to give to Mike. Victor gently rubbed a towel over her shoulders.Mike could feel his face growing hot.El glared at him and offered the slightest shake of her head.His sleeve rolled backexposing the small tattoo on his wrist, 002. Victor explained he was an experiment as well. Mike looked at Dustin, Lucas, Will, Nancy and Jonathan who all seemed to have seen it as well.Victor did not move to cover the tattoo but simply said, “We can save him.

Eleven wiped a rivulet of blood away from her nose, absentmindedly and nodded her agreement.A sly smile crossed her face. Mike, couldn’t explain it and would deny it vehemently for lifeboat for the for the first time he was truly afraid of his girlfriend.

**April 10, 1986**

_**Happy birthday Hopper!Even as I write this I wonder if I may yet have the ability to say it to you in person.Eleven came to me the other day and told me she had friends all over who were willing to help her rescue you.Did you know she had friends outside of Hawkins? Speaking of her friends she has one in particular I think you would approve of less than Mike.His name is Victor and well there’s just something wrong with him.I don’t like him and aside from Ronnie my gut is not usually wrong.** _

_**Anyway, I still think of you every day and wonder if you are thinking about—never mind.** _

_**We arrived back in Hawkins right after El found you in the Upside Down. The day the Challenger exploded.** _

_**One thing I can’t figure out is how you possibly went into the Upside Down in Hawkins but came out in Russia?We went to the lab!Saw for ourselves that everything had been cemented over and destroyed. Is there a conspiracy here that I’m missing out on.Jesus Hop.I’m starting to sound more and more like Murray every day. We-I miss you so much.** _

_**The Wheelers were nice enough to take us in for a few months but we needed to branch out.Gary, remember him?Put my house up on the market? He had a townhome the owner needed to sublet so here we are. I know better than to believe this was a coincidence.It’s almost like we are meant to be home, in Hawkins, awaiting word on you.** _

_**I’m fairly sure Mike, Dustin and Luke all know the truth about what happened to you but so far they’ve been fairly tightlipped.They’ve never said anything about Eleven so I figure what’s one more secret between our kids.Ha, OUR kids.** _

_**About El…I could chalk it up to teenage harmones but there’s something different about her.I don’t think it’s anything Victor or Mike has done to change her but -Sometimes she scares me, Hop.I feel horrible for saying that but there it is.Good to get it off the chest as they say. Something happened in StarCourt, something to do with that bite.She’s just different and I don’t know that it’s entirely for the good.** _

_**As for me, well...nothing much has changed.I still have the strangest dreams at night and spend most of my waking hours harassing Murray for an update.He assured me that once they “make contact and secure the package” I will be the first to know.I can’t help but feel useless, sitting here writing a letter to someone whom will never see it.I want to be out there, kicking butt and taking down names like Ancient Chariot and Wheelbarrow used to do. As more and more days go by my faith weakens.Not in you, never that, but our government…** _

_**Trust the process right?What happens when the process takes too long?** _

***

**April 28th, 1986**

She glanced up at the television for a moment, lost in thought.The solemn anchor’s voice interrupted a rerun of Miami Vice she and El had been watching. Her mouth gaped open, instinctively holding herself, shaking from the unimaginable news, she reached for the dial and turned it up. Somewhere, halfway across the world, a huge plume of smoke rose up from a nuclear reactor, blanketing the sky in a black cloud of ash and fallout.

Reactor # 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant had exploded on April 26th and the Soviets had done their darnedest to cover it up.As news of the power plants demise unravelled, images of Joyce’s previous dream came into focus.

“Holy shit,” she tripped over a forgotten pile of clean laundry she had meant to put away on her way to the phone. His answering machine picked up, as it always did.

“Murray?It’s Joyce. I think the Chernobyl blast -“ she stopped cold, her attention turning toward the concerned group of kids staring back at her. Suddenly she dropped the receiver, leaving it clanking against the bare wall.

“Was a distraction,” she mumbled to the empty air.

“Mom, what-?” Jonathan was already up and replacing the receiver in the cradle, sheer concern and panic pervading his features.Will absentmindedly played with the hairs on the back of his neck.The chilled static electricity he felt when the Mind Flayer was near had returned.He looked frightened and alone.

Joyce tried not to stare at Eleven, who was the only one whose attention never left the screen. She didn’t seem confused or upset.

_Was she smirking?_

Joyce waited to see the young girl turn toward her, acknowledge their presence, do SOMETHING that screamed she was human.It didn’t happen.Finally after several tense moments, which stretched out to eternity, she cleared her throat and spoke, “El, did you-“

Eleven cocked her head to the side and then stared up at her mother. To Joyce she almost looked as if she was daring her to accuse her.The young man, Victor, sat next to her on the couch. He never moved.

“No, never. How could you even think that of me?” Her response, tugged at Joyce’s heart.How could she think that of his ‘daughter.’

Her attention turned toward Victor as he slowly turned to fein interest at what was going on around them.He rubbed at the tattoo on his wrist and offered a weak smile.It only worked to set Joyce even more on edge.

“El, this is….”

Before she could finish her sentence the phone rang. El’s eyes, trancelike began to clear and she immediately joined her friends in their concern.

Murray’s voice barked at Joyce from the other end of the line but she didn’t even remember picking up the receiver.The static of an almost broken connection reminded her of the earlier conversation with Hopper. So much had changed since that moment and yet, looking back on it, she can swear it feels as if no time has gone at all.Then the four words she had prayed and hoped for so long came spilling out of Murray’s mouth and Joyce forgot about anything else.

“We got him, Joyce-“

Her heart pounded hard in her chest and a sound escaped her, somewhere between a scream and a cry.

“Mom?” Will squeaked. Joyce ignored him.

“We got him but-“ Murrays voice changed, he was solemn and raspy. 

Her heart sank.“Tell me.Is he-?”

“Mom?” He said again, louder this time.

Joyce waved her arm at the boy, silently shushing him.

“It’s not good. That’s all I can say now,” the line disconnected.

“Hopper’s home,” she uttered and then went into her room and shut the door.

###

**February 2nd, 1968**

Something whizzed past his head even as he ducked into the underbrush.His heart pounded inside his chest and the fatigues he wore itched and scratched against his sweaty back.He glanced around trying to get a lay of the land and he caught a glint of something out of the corner of his eye. Everything slowed down even as he heard the click of Murray’s boots behind him.

He saw the flash again and his mind went blank.This was _supposed_ to be a recon mission but even now he could still hear the roar of the Napalm as it slid it’s way toward his friends.He had grabbed Murray, Steven and Brad and forced them to flee.Brad had been shot down not far into the jungle and even now as they made their way to the ominous clearing he could feel the boy’s blood spatter cruelly across his face.

Steven had been the one to draw the short star and make his way out ahead. When Murray and Jim hadn’t heard back from him they decided to go after him.

So here they are, making their way across hostile territory to an uncertain future and hoping against hope they would make it out alive.

White lightening exploded near his head, the grenade hitting the ground no more than 50 feet away.Instinictively he pushed himself against Murray’s body, both men tumbling to the ground. The heady scent of dirt crept into his nostrils and he fought the urge to sneeze.The two men laid there for a moment both too afraid to lift their heads. 

As the smoke cleared Hopper chose to slowly lift his head above the thick underbrush.Nothing moved, everything was eerily still.The ringing in his ears was only overtaken by the sound of his heart. His eyes caught sight of a boot, a leg and a torso.A few feet away he saw an arm and fought the bile rising in his throat.

“What are you doing?” Murray whispered underneath him.

“Dying or saving our asses, the jury’s still out.”Hopper slowly rolled on his side and tossed a small rock towards the body. The brush moved but nothing else.

Either the enemy had receded back into the forest, thinking they had destroyed the Americans or they were waiting for him to do something stupid.Either way he couldn’t, no wouldn’t, wait to die.

He extended a hand out to the only man in his unit to survive and directed Murray’s attention away from what he assumed were pieces of Steven.

Jim started to follow Murray out of the clearing but noticed the glint of the man’s dog tags against the harsh sun.He sighed and swallowed hard, the thick taste of vomit threatened to come forth again. Jim’s hands shook and tears form behind his blue eyes but he squeezed the small metal tags tightly in his fist and gently placed them in the deep darkness of his cargo pocket.He vowed, then and there, that he would honor Steven’s memory by ensuring he and Murray went home.

###

**April 27th, 1986 (The Day After)**

He opened his eyes to the inky darkness. He heard the familiar screams from down the hall and the growl of the “thing” tearing into someone’s flesh as it ate.He slammed his eyes closed and tried to shut out the final strangled moans of the previous prisoner.He hovered between reality and insanity for a moment. 

He thought again of Steven and then his mind drifted to Diane and Sarah.He wallowed in his mind’s grief over the senseless loss of life he had seen when suddenly a loud crash thundered in his ears.

His hands began to shake as he tried to make himself as small as possible.Physically imposing, Hopper had never wished for death but now as he heard frantic voices growing closer he thought the end was upon him.Concern changed to hope when he realized the muffled voices he was hearing were speaking English.

Another loud crash, right outside his door this time, and light flooded the tiny room.A silhouette stood in the doorway, stoic as the man’s eyes adjusted to the dark.Then Hopper could hear the man gag and clear his throat, much the same as he had all those years ago.

Hopper waited for the rough hands, yanking him off of the cot or the clang of another plate of gruel on the concrete floor.Neither happened. Silence.

Hopper tried to cry out but his voice is no more than a gentle wheeze.His lips were cracked and bleeding.When he moved his ribs screamed in protest.His ankle still hurt, having never set correctly and his chest burned from the overly enthusiastic actions of his new friend, Ivan.

Nothing compared to the excruciating pain every breath he took caused his whole body. Instinctively he shuddered and attempted to curl into the fetal position. His eyes, so swollen he has to peer through the small slits of his eyelids.HIs anger and frustration rising in his heart but he can’t do anything to stop it now. Dr. Brenner would make sure this was all over soon.

The shape reached out a hand and Jim’s heart skipped a beat, afraid his face would be met with a fresh slap. The silhouette was fading into blackness now even as the man gently touched him.

Just before he lost consciousness he heard a familiar man’s voice and tears flooded his cheeks in a silent cry.

Murray had saved his life.

###

**May 21st, 1986**

Heart slamming in her ears, Joyce made her way through the front door of Hawkins General and focused on the first person she saw, a stout angry looking woman sitting behind the desk. Patti Sinclaire, once homecoming queen now caved in ash tray of a woman.

“Hopper, Jim,” she blurted out.

Patti stared at her blankly.

“Jim Hopper, police chief?Ya know about this tall, moustache. You probably slept with him in high school….”

The woman said nothing.

“Joyce, why are you here?”Murray had appeared from behind her, folding a newspaper under his arm.“I told you I would notify you as soon as you can see him. He’s out of quarantine and being prepped for surgery.

Seeing the concern on her face he continued.“His ankle was shattered, probably from the initial blast.It heeled but not correctly.Honestly he’ll probably always walk with a limp.”

Joyce’s brain was flooding with questions, which all seemed to roll out of her mouth at once.

“Why are you down here? Where is he?Surgery?”

He held her against him for a moment, something uncharacteristic of his usual docile demeanor.He held her arms against her sides and spoke softly.

“You can’t be here right now, Joyce.He’s - he’s been through a lot.Believe me when I say he wouldn’t want you to see him like this. Go home, get some sleep.I will CALL you. Besides, I would catch hell if I let Hopper’s girl see him right now.”

Joyce had stopped listening, Murray’s voice droning on like Charlie Brown’s teacher in the old peanuts cartoons.

“Earth to Joyce? Come in Joyce?”

She shook her head, ( _Hopper’s girl?_ ), rolling the thought over in her head.

“Murray, please-" but she doesn't have to finish the sentence.Behind Murray is a small gathering of people, poking and prodding at a hunched form on a stretcher, rolling toward the operating wing.She started forward and lashed out at the arm holding her back.She needed to see him, had to hold him but she was no match for the guards Patti had called when she saw her arrive. Joyce is reminded of how small Hawkins really is.

“Really, you didn’t know Hopper but you sure remember me, Patti.”The guard’s arms are wrapped around her now, pulling her toward the entrance.

"No, let go of me.You don't understand," she protested but she was so distracted she didn’t notice the guards arm raised.

“That is NOT necessary,” Murray’s eyes flared with an intense anger Joyce had never seen.The guard backed off and Murray led Joyce to the automatic doors. He held her hands in his own.

He noticed now, the nurses had stopped wheeling their patient and were gawking at the couple huddled in reception.Joyce turned, following his gaze and realized it wasn’t Hopper on the stretcher.

“Don’t you have something to do,” Murray shouted and the employees continued on their way.

Joyce’s face flushed as she realized her mistake. Murray seemed unfettered.

“Look Joyce, I can’t tell you much because honestly I don’t know much. Miraculously aside from some cracked ribs, bumps, cuts and one destroyed ankle he is physically intact.”

Seeing her wince at his cavalier comment forced him to take a different tactic.

“As you know, I am not good at this whole thing. In Nam it was always Jim who carried the platoon, Jim who kept the spirits up with his goofy humor and Jim who took it the hardest …”

His eyes filled with tears as he softly continued, “when our entire battalion was wiped out. I think a part of him never stopped blaming himself.”

She squeezed his hand, moved by his sudden candor. They stepped outside onto the curb, taking a seat across from one another on a bench nearby.The guards relaxed but stood at reception for a few minutes before heading back to their posts.

“Joyce, since he came back to Hawkins he has never been warm and fuzzy but he was starting to come around.I just don’t know that this….”

In a weak voice Joyce said, “What?”

“-This isn't it.That he’ll remain catatonic and so emotionally scarred that nothing will get him out of his own head.You didn’t see him in the days after the ‘accident.’He was so quiet, Joyce, turning that one boy’s dog tags over and over in his hands. I was scared then but this-this may end him.”

She didn’t say anything, slowly standing.

“You’re a good friend Murray.” Without another word she squeezed his knee and made her way to the car.

Murray heaved a heavy sigh and stood himself.

“Wait up,” he said, arriving at her car just as she opened the door.He held the door open for her.

“I promise you that as soon as I know ANYTHING I will call you.”

She nodded.

“Come back on Saturday.I will do my best to get you in to see him.I can’t promise I can do anything but I do promise to try.

She smiled, tentatively, placing a hand on his cheek.

“Thank you.”

She slipped into her car and started the engine.Murray watched her taillights and thought to himself how lucky Jim was to have someone care about him so much. He thought of Alexi and wiped a tear from his face.

**May 24th 1986 - Early AM**

Joyce sat at her kitchen table, the plume of a cigarette butt chilling in the ashtray.She had lit it but remembered her promise.Now instead of smoking it she chewed nervously on her thumb nail, wearing it down to a nub. She heard the front door thrown open and it slam shut again.

She turned her head and called out to the empty house, “Eleven?” No answer.“Jonathan, Will?” She heard footsteps walk toward her and stood, wrapping her fingers around a kitchen knife. “Hello?”

A dark shadow loomed in her doorway now, blocking out the light from the room.

“You should REALLY lock your door,” Dr. Brenner stepped forward aiming the pistol at her head.As he pulled the trigger she sat bolt upright in bed, Eleven stood by her bed staring at her.

“Bad dream?” She inquired, looking nonplussed.

“I’m fine.Go to bed.”

“Papa?” She inquired.

“Tell me the truth El.Did you have anything to do with Chernobyl and the rescue of your father?”

Her features turn dark as she frowns.“Why can’t you believe me.I had nothing to do with any of that.Victor-“ she stopped herself.

“What about him?”

“He’s so angry all the time.”

Joyce padded over to Eleven and placed her hand on her shoulder.She shrank back from her touch.

“Did he?” Eleven’s eyes dashed across the room as if someone was watching her every move.She shrugged. “He hates Dr. Brenner and wanted to destroy him. He thought helping me-er-us to save Dad would also serve as revenge. But he’s just so angry…"

Eleven grabbed her and buried her face in Joyce’s chest, crying softly.

###

“RIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG!” Joyce rolled over to stop her alarm clock and realized her phone was ringing.She started to pull herself from the covers and Eleven gently shifted in her sleep.She tiptoed her way to the other nightstand and gently picked up the receiver.

“Morning,” Murray’s voice sounded tired and worried.

“Morning.” She responded.

“You-uh- well….you can come see him but you have to promise to not have any expectations.”

Joyce was already throwing clothes around the room in an effort to get dressed.

“Daddy?” Eleven asked sleepily.

Joyce nodded at the teenager who popped out of the bed and ran to her own room.

The boys, eyes bleery, stood int he doorway. “Is it Hopper?”

Judging by the way both women ran frantically around the answer was obvious.

“Guess we’re going to Hawkins General,” Jonathan turns toward his little brother who nodded in agreement.

**May 24th, 1986 - The Last Day**

Murray met them at the entrance, “Only one of you can go in.” Eleven turned to Joyce and smiled, pushing her forward.

“Are you sure?”

Eleven nodded and went to join her brothers in the waiting room.

As Murray led her back, down a dim hallway she finally thought to ask.“Do you know what happened to Dr. Brenner?”Murray stopped, looking concerned.“He survived but is in federal custody.This country tends to look down on treason.” He tried to smile at her but she thought back to her nightmare and how he had survived two near death experiences. “Just be careful,” she said as she sighed.Murray nodded in agreement.

Murray held the elevator door open and pushed the button for the 5th floor, the ICU. Joyce chewed nervously on her thumbnail again.Murray glanced down at her and softly touched her wrist.

“No matter what, he is still Jim.” He offered her a smile and she returned the favor.

They stepped off the elevator and made their way down another bustling corridor.Murray pushed open the double doors to a row of dimly lit rooms. It was much quieter here and Joyce wondered if this was where they kept the terminal cases.She shook the thought from her head.

Murray softly knocked on the door and an armed guard slowly opened it.His attention turned to Joyce and then back at Murray.“Wheelbarrow,” he said to the guard who chuckled opening the door wider. He sat in a chair by the door reading Pet Semetary.

“The cat did it,” Joyce offered but the guard didn’t look up again.

She turned her attention to the other end of the room.The lights were turned down low and Joyce couldn’t help but think this was more for the benefit of the visitor than for Hopper himself.She approached slowly, anxiously. She was practically on top of his bed before she realized what she was staring at. Tubes and machines were hooked up to every orifice of the pale figure lying in the bed.The gaunt face before her was unmistakably Hopper but that’s where the similarity ended. His face was puffy and purple, his nose stitched and bandaged.Someone had shaved his head and face, making him look more like a POW than the Hawkins Chief of Police.

His shoulders and chest were covered in what appeared to be burn marks and a large set of stitches crossed his shoulder.Hopper’s leg was in a cast, propped up on several pillows, a pulley hung from the ceiling, a sling hovered over his bed. Joyce swallowed hard but didn’t flinch.She touched his forehead, tracing the side of his face with the back of her hand. Gently she hovered over the gauze bandage overtop his swollen eye She realized she’d been holding her breath and gently let out a small sigh.She pushed a hospital chair over to the side of the bed and sat down.She took Hopper’s hand in her own and wiped a tear from her eye.

She had forgotten Murray was still there until he spoke, jolting her back.

“I’ll be over here if you need me.” Murray, persing his lips, gently closed the curtain dividing the room.They were, for all intents and purposes, alone.

Joyce leaned in close to Hopper’s ear, her voice cracked as she spoke, “Hey Hop,” she paused. The beeps on his EKG sped up for a moment and she smiled.

“I thought I would know what to say when I saw you again but-“ She felt him then, a soft squeeze of her hand and her eyes widened.She swallowed audibly and looked around, doubting what she had just felt.

She leaned in again, “Hop, if you hear me squeeze my hand again?”

She could’ve sworn his non-swollen eye fluttered but she waited….and waited…and waited.She scoffed at how silly she’d been, thinking that this comatosed man could possibly react to her voice.She started to pull her hand away when he squeezed it again.

“Hopper!” She exclaimed excitedly just as Murray threw back the curtain and yanked her up from her seat. “I hate to cut the reunion short but we have a situation,” his anxious voice cutting through her short lived reverie

“He’s awake, Murray.He’s awake.” Her voice was drowned out by the angry squawking of the walkie talkies and Murrays’ forceful grip on her elbow. She tried again to capture his attention but he again blew her off, listening.Her heart sank as she heard what she had feared.Dr. Brenner killed the federal agent assigned to his room and now had HER kids cornered in the lobby, a lobby on lockdown.

“I don’t suppose I can convince you to stay here?” Murray asked already anticipating the answer.She scowled at him and took off running toward the stairwell closest to Hopper’s room.A nurse peaked through the double doors but Murray screamed at her to get back.Everything would soon be under control but the nurse clearly didn’t believe him.Still she was a trained professional and so she dutifully closed the door and reassured the patients at the other end of the floor.

He ran after Joyce who was already bounding down the stairs two at a time, heart slamming through her rib cage. No matter how fast she willed herself to go it seemed as if she was slogging through mud, each step slower than the last. She could hear him before she creaked open the door to the first floor.She closed her eyes, exhaled sharply and then stepped into the lobby.

She knew as she came around the corner that something was dangerously wrong.The lights were dimmed, the room a dark shell of itself.Since the lockdown protocol (and really what normal hospital has a protocol for such a thing) all the doors were locked and the window shades drawn.Emergency vehicles were rerouted to other hospitals up to 10 miles away and all floors were commanded to stay where they were. The guards (5 of them) stood in a semi circle around Dr. Brenner and a young man, frozen where they stood.Each had a look of terror and shock etched on their faces.

Martin Brenner turned to face her, an inhuman smile dotted his features.Blood speckled his hospital clothes and she thought of the Agent’s family. Eleven sat across from them, her eyes closed.She was sweating.

Will stood next to Dr. Brenner and Jonathan’s body lay crumpled on the floor closest to the entranceway. Joyce fell to her knees in front of him, cradling his head in her hands.

“How nice of you to join us, Hopper.”Joyce opened her mouth to protest but thought better of it.

 _Clearly this man is delusional,_ she thought. _Who am I to push him over the edge?_

Then she heard _him_ behind her and her hand froze mid-stroke of her son’s head.

“Leave my daughter alone.”

Joyce’s head whipped around and her eyes betrayed her for a minute.It couldn’t be Hopper standing before her, not based on what she had JUST seen upstairs. Yet here he stood, battered and bruised, determined, somehow alive and powerful.Joyce knew then, not only were Jane’s powers returning but somehow she was helping Hopper. She was the unseen force propelling him forward. This Hopper was not the same man she had seen moments ago in the hospital bed. He nodded to Eleven who winked back at him and her suspicions were confirmed.

He felt Joyce’s stare and glanced down at her, his dark blue eyes turned almost black with rage and hate.They immediately softened and he offered her a playful smirk.He winced slightly as he took steps toward Eleven but Joyce was amazed he could stand at all.When Eleven saw him for the first time, flesh and blood, in front of her a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Viktor, who had sneaked in dressed as an intern and had been hiding in a nearby janitor closet, took this distraction as an opportunity to lunge toward Dr. Brenner, a scalpel glinting in the dim light.He buried it in Dr. Brenner’s shoulder. Martin howled in pain but in one swift motion, raised his hand and flicked two of his fingers toward the wall as if swatting a fly.Victor flew backwards, his body hitting the wall with a sickening crack.

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!” Eleven screamed, her voice reverberating over the stunned silence.She raced to his slumped body, her jubilation and hope crashing around her as she reached два (2).Dr. Brenner chuckled, his attention now solely on the young girl before him. Viktor opened his mouth to apologize. Eleven shook her head, willing him not to speak and held his hand.Blood oozed down his chin and everyone’s hearts sank. Eleven bowed her head bracing herself for the inevitable.She could feel his soul leave his body, felt the rage boil inside her heart.As she heard Papa speak again she knew what had to be done.

“Stupid child, did you really think I didn’t know what you were up to?What you BOTH had planned?”

Dr. Brenner’s chuckle slowly turned into a full laugh, a hollow tinny sound and Eleven realized it hadn’t been Viktor who had caused the disaster in Chernobyl. 

As if reading her mind Dr Brenner spoke, "Chernobyl couldn't have happened at a better time, God rest the souls of all those who perished and continue to suffer.".

His fake sympathy enraged Hopper more.As he saw his daughter raising her hand to Viktor's face, gently closing his sightless eyes he burned with rage.Suddenly he was thrust back to the days with his captor and he pounced, followed closely by Murray. Undeterred Dr. Brenner continued, moving closer to El with every step.

“I’ve always wanted what was best for you, my daughter, my love. I did what I did all for you…to bring you home.Can’t you see that?

Just as he reached her, all three men crashed to the floor in a heap. Murray held him in a headlock as Hopper wrenched the knife from his back.He brought it down again and again, blood covering the floor.When Hopper was satisfied he pulled the knife from his back sending it skittering across the floor.

Murray, afraid to touch his friend, placed a shaking hand on Jim's shoulder.Hoppers eyes were distant but they slowly focused and he stood. Dr. Brenner laid motionless on the floor but as Hopper turned his attention back to the small group he roundkicked him, taking his legs out from under him and sending him crashing to the floor, unconscious. Eleven screamed holding her side proving again how intertwined with the chief she really was..Her scream seemed to awaken Murray who frantically looked around for the discarded knife.He ran toward it, slipping on the blood coating the floor. 

Dr. Brenner’s eyes seared into Murray's soul as he lifted him in the air. A second blade emerged from Murray's boot and the two men scuffled.With a final cry Dr. Brenner buried the hilt of the knife in Murray's stomach, immediately causing blood to spew from his mouth.Dr Brenner smiled and turned his attention to Joyce, discarding Murray like yesterday's garbage.

Murray, attempting to stand, clutched his stomach as a dark liquid spilled over his hands and onto the floor.Joyce, terrified and stunned reached for him but it was too late.He smiled at her and crumbled to the floor beside Hopper, dead.

Will, seemingly in a trance, stood next to Dr. Brenner. His eyes rolled back in his head and mouth agape. Joyce had seen this faraway look in her boy before and she pleaded with him to wake up.

Dr. Brenner was unfazed by this touching scene as he started his self-serving monologue, “For years, I slaved away in that Hawkins laboratory, trying to come up with some sort of biological weapon for the US government and what did I get for my troubles?A pat on the back and a ‘we’ll take it from here.’It took defecting for my dreams to come together.”

He turned to Eleven and fixed his cold eyes on her wide scared pupils.

“You weren’t the first one.You won’t be the last.”

He raised a finger toward Will and pointed at the splintered wood and dry wall behind Viktor’s body.Will obediently walked over, picked up a jagged piece, and slowly ran it against his own cheek. Eleven raised her hand trying to alter his course but watched in horror as the blood ran down the boys’ cheek.He never flinched.

Dr. Brenner continued, “See that’s the thing with the Russians.They just get it, you know?”It was a rhetorical question. “Humans are so easy to manipulate.”

Joyce, overcome with emotion from all the pain and sorrow, screamed. Hopper, awakecrawling toward her, attempted to silence her cries but as he reached her he knew he had failed.

Dr. Brenner cocked his head, placing his foot on Hopper’s cast and applied slight pressure.At the same time he raised a finger to his lips and shushed her. Joyce felt something slimy coating her throat and she could no longer speak.The thing wriggled against her wind pipe and she felt herself slowly choking as if as she were being strangled from the inside. Joyce tried again to scream and heard a whispered plea as her world went black. 

“Papa? I’m sorry.” Dr. Brenner immediately lost interest in Hopper’s ankle or Joyce’s voice.

Hopper scooted backward, blocking Joyce from further damage and stared at his daughter, his Jane,cooing at Dr. Brenner, beckoning him closer and he realized what she was doing.He picked up the cigarette ash/trash can over his head and -

Just before she passed out, she saw Hopper continue his crawl, his jaw clenched, focused and she couldn’t help but think this is what Murray must’ve seen, in the middle of that field, surrounded by enemy fire.

“No more pain,” Hopper muttered and heaved the trashcan, his body screaming and then he collapsed, stitches in his shoulder had split but he barely noticed.His heart swelled with pride as the lights began to flicker.

The walls began to shake sending plaster and drywall to the floor.The guards metal badges and weapons were ripped from their holsters, hovering in the air in front of them. The invisible hand loosened from Joyce’s throat and she inhaled sharply. Her vision cleared. She covered Jonathan’s body with her own realizing at the last minute what was happening.

Dr. Brenner smiled softly, whispering “Come Home” in Eleven’s ear, making her feel a familiar pang in her chest. As the trashcan connected with the back of Martin’s legs, she pushed off of his embrace uttering, “Go To Hell“ before rolling out of the way, crashing into Will as she went.

The guns, under Eleven's returning powers, tore through Dr. Brenner’s chest and abdomen. Then they fell to the ground, spent.

Eleven crawled across the floor toward Hopper. She wrapped her arms around him in a tight bear hug and buried her face in his chest.He collapsed against her, willing himself to feel the warmth radiating from her and sighed. She gazed up at him, both of their eyes clearing, the bond between father and daughter intact.

Just as the clips emptied, Dr. Brenner turned toward Eleven and Hopper.He grinned as small tentacles protruded from every bullet wound.

Both faces were wiped of happiness as they realized what was happening.Dr. Brenner laughed maniacally edging closer and closer. Suddenly, surprise and utter terror crossed “Papa’s” face and he stumbled, falling to his knees. Will’s hand, still raised in a bloody fist, held the man’s beating heart.As it slowed to a stop, he smirked dropping it to the floor with a squelch.

“You forgot about freewill.”He squashed the organ under his foot and seemed to wake from a nightmare he’d had no control over.He glanced around at the carnage on the floor even as the guards found they could move and rushed to help the dead and the dying.

“What happened,” he asked innocently, Joyce wrapping him in her arms. He turned his head and saw Hopper, holding Eleven tightly. Then using Eleven as a crutch, he hobbled his way over to the three Byers, passing the carnage of Dr. Brenners body and the body of his friend, Murray.He stops for a moment before the latter hanging his head in silent reflection.

He placed a hand on Will’s head as he stared down at the remains of Dr. Brenner.

“He forgot about freewill,” he says rustling Will’s hair. Will rolled his eyes at the gesture and muttered, “Lovable ogre.”Joyce playfully smacked the back of his head.Hopper, confused and slightly perturbed smiled having no idea what was going on.

The morgue staff came to collect the bodies but couldn’t find any trace of Dr. Brenner other than a bit of otherworldly goo and the clothes the man had been wearing.The abomination seemed to have shrank away as a slug attacked by salt, completely reabsorbing in the floor.

“You look awful,” Will offered up to Hopper.

“Gee thanks, squirt.” He turned his attention back to Eleven, still clinging to his torsoe. “Guess that’s what happens when you protect your daughter from a mad genius, rolling plus three constitution but the intelligence and Charisma are seriously lagging.”

Will is stunned by Jim’s knowledge of Dungeons and Dragons and felt embarrassed for a minute. As he continued Will was confident this was the ONLY knowledge he had of the game.

“All I am saying is some day you’ll want to protect your daughter but realize that she needs to spread her wings.And then maybe you won’t look so hot either.Sometimes you get hurt, but the hurt is good.It means-

Eleven finished his sentence “you’re out of that cave?” He swallowed hard, knowing she had read his talk notes and gave her a gentle squeeze. The group held each other, silent but together, a family once again.

**The Aftermath**

A few days later, standing in the same fire hall where Joyce had been married all those years ago, Hopper stared out into the parking lot.He seemed to study they dark Buick Regal with tinted windows parked across the street.

“Hop, you ok?” He turned toward Joyce, tapping his cane for effect and offered her a small smile. “Never better.”

She chuckled. “Walk with me, Big Guy.”

Hopper glanced around at the unfamiliar faces chatting quietly and offering condolences.

“Where were these people while he lived?” He asked softly, rhetorically.

Joyce placed a hand on his shoulder, “Let’s get out of here.”

He nodded slightly, placing his glass on a nearby table. 

As the couple stepped outside, Hopper held the door for her and offered her his arm.The evening’s gentle breeze made Joyce involuntarily shudder and he removed his jacket, draping it over her arms.She smiled at him, took his hand and led him down the street.

Before Joyce could lead him away, Hopper glanced again at the car and realized the window was partially down.He stole a final glance at its occupant but he shrugged it off as part of the grieving process.Murray was dead, nothing could bring him back.It was time he focused on what was in front of him.

###

Murray sat back in his seat smiling even as the driver started the engine.

“Ya know I think they’re gonna make it.”The driver glanced in the rearview mirror quizzically.

“Let’s go, oh, remind me to send a thank you card to Tom Savini when we get to the airport.”This was more for his benefit than the driver’s as English was not his first language.

He patted the trick knife and squib in his small briefcase and adjusted himself in the seat, wincing at the bruises on his abdomen.

Murray was headed to Russia to make good on his side of the deal to rescue his friend.To America, he was a dead war hero and CIA operative. To Russia he was a dead spy.To the small group who had helped him recover Hopper and free the other prisoners, he was indebted and would live the rest of his life under a new identity in Russia.

Chernobyl was just a Red Herring.

“Yessir,” the man answered, mocking American films of the day, smiled broadly and pull out of the spot and into the evening traffic.

###

"Joyce I-“

"Wait here."

He opens his mouth to protest but slammed it shut as he realized the restaurant they are now standing in front of. She reemerged a few minutes later with a large bag of food.

“I figured since you were probably not up to going back there, I would bring the date as you put it, to you with a little help. They make their way to aside street where a table and two chairs has been set up.Hopper can’t help but smile as Mike led him to it.He pulled out Joyce’s chair and took the bag from her.

Dustin assisted pushing both of their chairs in.

Hopper hovered over Mike for a minute, eyebrow raised and then he offered his free hand to the boy.“I was wrong about you.”Mike, tentatively shook it, smiled and began to unpack the food from the bag.

“Thank you sir,” he offered. Dustin lit the candle on the both boys disappeared into the shadows. As Hopper lowered himself he winced.It'll be a long time before he can move freely again.

“Nice touch,” he tilted his head toward the fleeing boys. She put her hands up innocently."Mike insisted.”

Her brown eyes seemed to twinkle in the candlelight.He reached out, gently taking her hand from across the table. Suddenly the urge to hold her in his arms forever overcomes him.

Then he opened his mouth:

“Heck of a time to ask me on a date, don’t ya think?” He asked puzzled and her face fell for just a moment, the familiar defense he had been so good at bringing out in her. She started to pull her hand away.

_Damn it Hopper, you big oaf._

He placed his hand over hers, resting on the table, and smiled.

"I'm kidding love.This is perfect." He gave it a slight squeeze and she saw in his eyes the familiar boyish Jim she had known in high school. She returned the smile and twirled some pasta on her fork, gingerly placing it into her mouth.

_Why is this so hard? Just kiss her man._

A slight spot of marinara graced her cheek and he finally stepped into action.Casually, or as much as he could manage, he stood and moved the chair closer to her. He dabbed at her face with a napkin before slipping his arm around her back. Hopper filled her glass with wine and the two reminisced, sharing food and memories. Her head slowly resting against his shoulder.

Finally, as the food was consumed and the wine disappeared the silence between them became palpable but comfortable.

He gently turned her chin to face him.Before he could think better of it, or she could resist, he leaned in and gently kissed her. As they separated, she searched his eyes for what this meant. After a moment she returned the kiss, slowly opening her mouth to accept his tongue. He ran his hand over the side of her face and pulled her closer.This time, as they kissed both realized what had been surpressed for so long.

He whispered in her ear, "your place or mine," and butterflies filled her stomach.She giggled and stood up already cleaning up the refuse.

“Given that yours has been demolished by a giant alien creature, definitely mine.” She winked and he helped her clean up, stopping only to blow out the candle. She took his hand, leading him home.

###

Hopper’s eyes fluttered open to the dim light of the room.He felt a gentle pressure on his chest and the slightest bit of warm wetness curled up in the crook of his arm.He remembered the events of last night and had to look down to see that yes, Joyce, his Joyce was still there softly snoring as drool dampened his shirt.He moved a bit and she began to stir.

“I’m sorry.Did I wake you?”

She offered him a sleepy smile and snuggled closer to him.

“I love you, you know. I always have.”

He figured his declaration would fall with a dull thud but she picked her head up to gaze up into his eyes.

“Hopper, I-“

_Don’t feel the same.Just want to be friends. Think you’re a great guy._

“Love you too.”

He tried to contain his glee but the truth was written on his face.

“Really? I mean you do? I mean-”

_Jesus, Hop you sure do have a knack for turning a moment around._

She chuckled and placed her hand on his cheek.

“Yes, really ya big fool.”

She crossed the room to a large folder resting on her dresser.

"I never expected to actually give this to you."She looked away, handing it over to him. "I didn't think I would ever get the chance."

He opened the thick folder and his heart melted.Inside were every letter, every ‘note’ she had written since he had died.His hand shook as he read her confessions and private thoughts.Tears welled in his eyes. She snuggled back into bed beside him, resting her head on his chest.

 _Life is good_ , he thought to himself.

As he relaxed and attempted to fall back asleep he saw movement in the corner of the bedroom. He squinted and his heart dropped into his stomach. He slammed his eyes shut but the pulsing membrane between heaven and hell grew larger. Suddenly he was thrown back into the Upside Down StarCourt Mall.He could feel the heat from the explosion and the unexplainable tingling of passing over. His heart froze in his chest.

Joyce felt his body tensing against her and she instinctively pulled him toward her. Remembering Murray’s words about Hopper’s mental state, she placed her forehead against his and gently whispered his name rubbing his temples as she spoke.

Slowly his eyes cleared and he saw her again.

“I’m sorry. It’s just-“

“You’ve been through a lot. I'm sure this is overwhelming."

Both closed their eyes, Joyce encouraging him to breathe.When he reopened them the portal was receding but Hopper couldn’t help but feel that one day, this thing, this being from beyond, would swallow him whole.

"We'll just take it one day at a time, ok?"

As he looked into Joyce’s kind eyes he realized he wasn’t alone anymore.

He smiled pulling her against him and kissed her gently.

"Yes, WE will."

As he turned his attention back to her letters he knew his future was with Joyce Byers.Now more than ever he was determined to live every day to the fullest.

Finis.


End file.
